Meanwhile, tick-tock goes the debt clock -- merely $5 BILLION greater in debt, each and every wonderful day. Isn't it reassuring to have such concerned leaders watching our national checkbook. Gives me the warm and fuzzies every time I think about how prudently they shepherd us through fiscal calamaties, one after another, all of their own making. I'm bursting with fiscal pride, you could say.
3 short but outstanding VIDEOS from David Walker are included for a look at some answers.
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(3 short VIDEOS from David Walker are BELOW)
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White House and congressional leaders reached a tentative deal aimed at establishing a bipartisan commission to tackle the soaring federal budget deficit, in what is likely to be a central element of President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 budget, people familiar with the talks said.
Meeting Tuesday night at the White House, Vice President Joe Biden, White House budget director Peter Orszag and Democratic leaders agreed the commission would report back at the end of 2010 with a path to bring this year's projected $1.4 trillion deficit from about 10% of gross domestic product to 3% by 2015.
The commission would also submit recommendations on taxes and spending on entitlements, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. House and Senate Democratic leaders promised the recommendations would be submitted to Congress for an up-or-down vote after the midterm elections this year, these people said.
The 18-member commission will include six people appointed by congressional Democrats, six appointed by congressional Republicans and six appointed by the president. Of the president's six, two will be Republicans and four will be Democrats.
Under the deal, the commission will be created by an executive order and laid out in the fiscal 2011 budget that Mr. Obama will submit to Congress Feb. 1.
Republican leaders weren't part of the talks, and the panel can work only if GOP leaders select members to serve on it.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said GOP leaders wouldn't commit to cooperating with any commission until they see the details.
He questioned what a commitment by Democratic leaders to vote on the panel's recommendations would mean if Republicans take control of the House in November's elections. "We need to start controlling spending now," he said. "After a year of a deluge of spending by Washington Democrats, let's look to the stuff we can do on our own."
One key player on the issues, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), did not immediately sign off on the pact. He and other key budget hawks such as Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R., Ohio) had opposed an executive branch commission, arguing that only one created by statute could force Congress to act once the recommendations were delivered.
Continue reading at the WSJ >>
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Video: The National Debt Truth
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Video: David Walker on the coming fiscal tsunami
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Video: David Walker -- U.S. Fiscal Immorality Will Lead To National Bankruptcy